Greetings, dear Friends of the Cuyamungue Institute;

On the morning of the Summer Solstice, eighteen of us gathered at the ridge for a sunrise ritual.  Two of our members -Diana Scott of Idaho and Jim Lawer of California - shared a Druidic Solstice tradition, including Stonehenge stories and bread and mead.  It was the culmination of a four-day celebration of the Cuyamungue Institute's 30th birthday, enlivened by new postures and presentations by various members of our group. 

Thanks to all of you who contributed with your presence, as well as with presents of financial donations.  Those of you who have spent time at the Institute appreciate our ongoing needs for maintaining our road and the buildings.  It's not too late to send your own contribution!

The summer board meeting evoked creative ideas and innovative projects to continue our work through the Cuyamungue Institute.  Already we have a rich and diverse schedule of workshops and other events for 2010.  We are also seeking a few major donors to fund a full-time Executive Director position for the first year or two.  As we grow and expand, it becomes increasingly clear that we need someone whose time is dedicated to the administrative and fundraising tasks required by an organization with international membership and 280 acres of property. 

In addition, we are expanding our board of directors by four members to provide for the additional needs of the Institute as it develops.  For those of you who for whom astrological language is meaningful, the Institute recently completed its first Saturn return and will soon begin the swing into the second quadrant of the chart.  This surge of activity is just the beginning.  As always, we are interested in how the Institute can best serve you.  Email me any time at Belinda@BelindaGore.com.

My new book, The Ecstatic Experience: Healing Postures for Spirit Journeys, was released by Inner Traditions/Bear & Company in May.  It includes a CD of rattling and drumming, and when you buy it through the Cuyamungue Institute store online, you can also buy everything you need for the sacred postures ritual, including blue corn meal and sage.
Enjoy the summer!
 
Best wishes,
Belinda
Belinda Gore, Ph.D., President

Belinda's recipe for Feast Turkey
15 - 18 pound turkey
Blend marinade in a small pitcher:
1 cup oil
1 ½ Tbsp. Beau Monde seasoning OR 1 tsp celery seed
1 ½ Tbsp. salt
2 Tbsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. minced fresh garlic
 
Put your hand under the skin of the turkey breast, pulling the skin completely away from the meat.  Pour the marinade under the skin, then rub any remaining onto the outside of the skin.  Marinate overnight.
Heat oven to 325.  Roast 15 minutes per pound, basting every half hour.

The Egyptian Diviner

The example of the EGYPTIAN DIVINER POSTURE is an Isis figure displayed in the Temple of Horus at Edfu, from the period of approximately 430 - 404 BCE.  The figure is made of the wood of the tamarind tree and is covered in gold.
 
Under the last indigenous pharaohs, Egypt experienced a final period of independence and prosperity. Then, attached to the Persian empire and Macedonian empire, it shone under the Ptolemies as a unique culture in the Hellenistic world.

After the first Persian domination, Egypt regained its independence during the 28, 29 and 30 dynasties (404-343 BC). The country found prestige and vitality as witnessed in the artistic and literary productions of the time. All the temples enjoyed important work until the reign of Nectanebo II, the last ruler of Dynasty 30. The latter could not stem the surge of troops from the Persian king Artaxerxes III. The country became a province of the Achaemenid Persian empire, itself increasingly threatened by the expansion of the kingdom of Macedonia.

Alexander I defeated the last Persian king in 334 BCE, and conquered Egypt without a fight. He created a new city, Alexandria.   After his death, the Macedonian Ptolemy, son of Lagos, founded the dynasty known as Ptolemy Lagides.  These Hellenistic rulers presented themselves as successors of the pharaonic royalty. The new administration was based on the Greek model, which is juxtaposed to the local social structures. Especially in the temples the language, writing and iconography of Pharaonic religion survived. In addition, the mixture of the Egyptian tradition and elements of Greek culture created original productions.

The Ptolemaic Egypt retained the major role in culture and art, with its prestigious monuments such as the Library and the Lighthouse, which are included in the Seven Wonders of the World. However, dynastic strife and the growing influence of Rome descreased the power of the Ptolemies. After the death of Cleopatra VII, the most famous queens of the Lagides, Egypt became a province of Rome in 30 BCE.
 
The Temple of Horus in Edfu.
Its present condition is the reconstruction undertaken in 237 BC under the reign of Ptolemy III.

Shamanistic Research Conference
John J. Pilch, Ph.D.
June 2, 2009
The 9th International Conference of the International Society for Shamanistic Research (ISSR)  met at the University of Alaska Anchorage from May 27th to 31st, 2009. About ninety participants attended, and approximately 50 presented research reports or shared videos and artefacts.  The theme was: Traditional Belief and Healing Systems in a Changing World: An Interdisciplinary Approach. General topics included healing rituals and techniques; concepts of shamanism; modern transformations in shamanism; the Alaska Forum on repatriation and shamanism; comparative studies in shamanism; contemporary core shamanism; and language and paraphernalia of rituals. 
           

Felicitas Goodman had attended some of the earlier meetings, and the President, Mihály Hoppál, remembers her, her work, and her institute. I represented Cuyamungue: The Felicitas D. Goodman Institute at this meeting. In response to the Call for Papers, I proposed two reports: "Meaning Response and Traditional Belief in Healing," and "Some Characteristics of the Musical Component on the Shamanistic Ritual based on Music in 2 (Slavonic) Enoch)."  In my assigned twenty minute segment, I distributed an article on the first topic published in 2008 and orally sketched the main points of the second topic.
           

The article on "Meaning Response" uses the anthropological insights of Dan Moerman to interpret healing stories in Matthew's gospel.  He developed this concept in research on the placebo which, as inert material, is incapable of effecting anything.  Meaning Response is his way of explaining why and how placebo's work, and how human beings find healing for their ills. It's an excellent tool for interpreting traditional healing beliefs and systems.  
           

In the report I actually delivered about Enoch, it is important to remember that he was a fictional pre-flood character in the Bible who didn't die but was taken to the sky  (See Gen 5:24-25, a segment dated around 400 BC).  Over the next 1,000 years a written tradition emerged and evolved around Enoch as a sky-traveler in books attributed to him. Twenty copies of 1 Enoch were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls!  In 2 Enoch (1st century AD), he traverses the seven heavens and hears all sorts of music.  My question is: what kind of music did he hear?  Since the author was a Hellenist Israelite, the music familiar to him would be Greek.  However, the original Greek text has been lost, and all that remains are Old Slavonic translations from the seventh century or later. This would quite likely be the kind of music those audiences would have imagined Enoch to have heard. The nature of these two musical styles give an insight into the kinds of music that can induce or support trance. It also sheds light on the kind of music the visionary might have heard or composed in his trance.  As the classicist, Walter Burkett says: "The shaman is singer, seer and priest in one. He consorts with gods and spirits in ecstatic trance, journeys into the beyond, leads the dead to rest, heals the sick, and knows how to reveal things hidden."  This aptly describes the author of Slavonic Enoch.
           

Since far less than ten percent of the ancient world was literate, what purpose did such written texts serve? Scholars believe they were rituals to be enacted by those who listened to their recitation.  Liturgical texts are similarly intended to produce the same effects: ASCs for sure, and perhaps even sky journeys to the spirit world.
           

Our colleagues from the German Institute, Karin and Kurt F. Richter presented: "A Journey to the Goddess Tanit of Ibiza: Bridging the Gap between Indigenous and Western Healing Processes."  They are psychotherapists in private practice in Remscheid, Germany, who utilize Felicitas' insights and postures in their practice. They discovered a new posture involving the goddess Tanit of Ibiza and traveled to that island in order to research this deity.  As a result, they have been able to use this newly acquired knowledge to build a bridge for linking indigenous with western perspectives on therapeutic practice. The report included examples of success with clients in their individual practices. They promise to inform us when their report will be published.  On a personal note, the Richter family welcomes the healing energy that Cuyamungue members and friends might send in their direction to assist Kurt in his valiant battle against cancer.  They had to shorten their planned visit so that he could return to Germany for further treatment. 
           

The concluding "keynote" conference by David S. Whitley, "Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: The Origins of Creativity and Belief," sparked a lot of discussion.  A protégé of David Lewis-Williams of the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, he offered the hypothesis that cave paintings are extraordinary art that served a religious purpose.  Why did the paintings emerge about 50,000 to 90,000 years ago? He hypothesizes that a gene-mutation that caused a form of mental illness which artists sometimes experience is one plausible explanation.  Artists in attendance quite understandably took exception. 
           

Concurrent sessions made it impossible to hear all the reports, but eventually - by the time of the next meeting in Warsaw, in 2011! - they will be published.  The report that I made to this meeting in Hungary in 2007 about the research of the Annapolis, MD group of approximately ten years of experiences with the Chiltan Spirits posture was included in the Abstracts of that meeting.  Another research report of mine on 1 Enoch and his sky journeys has just been published by the ISSR in  Shamans Unbound, Volume 14 in the Bibliotheca Shamanistica series (2008).  I can send copies upon request (pilchj@georgetown.edu).  
                                                                                                                                       

Current 2009 WORKSHOP SEASON

July 22-25, Columbus, Ohio, Cuyamungue Teacher Training
with Belinda Gore president of Cuyamungue, author of Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternate Reality Workbook and The Ecstatic Experience: Healing Postures for Spirit Journeys.
 
Workshop contents include:
· History of Felicitas Goodman's discovery of ritual postures as a global
phenomenon.
· Five step method for the practice of Ecstatic Trance.
· Overview of Ecstatic Trance as a body-based spiritual practice, including
physiological changes that occur during the trance state.
· Ecstatic trance and consciousness studies.
· Techniques for using rattle and/or drum to guide trance sessions.
· Methods for deepening personal meaning derived from trance experiences.
· Ten key factors in organizing Ecstatic Trance workshops.
· Facilitating group dynamics in workshops.
· Sample outlines for one-and two-day workshops focusing on Introduction,
Healing, and Divination.
 
$450 includes breakfast and lunch and teaching materials.  This training is a requirement for certification as an Instructor.